190 
PLINY S NATDllAL mSTOIlT. 
[Book XIII. 
till then, had heen looked upon as being of the first quality'- : 
for the Augustan paper had been found to be so remarkably 
fine, as to ofter no resistance to the pressure of the pen ; in 
•addition to which, as it allowed the writing upon it to run 
through, it was continually causing apprehensions of its being 
blotted and blurred by the writing on the other side ; the re- 
markable transparency, too, of the paper was very unsightly to 
the eye. To obviate these inconveniences, a groundwork of 
paper was made with leaves of the second quality, over which 
was laid a woof, as it were, formed of leaves of the first. He 
increased the width also of paper ; the width [of the common 
sort] being made a foot, and that of the size known as macro- 
collum,"^^ a cubit ; though one inconvenience was soon detected 
in it, for, upon a single leaf being torn in the press, more 
pages were apt to be spoilt than before.^^ In consequence of 
the advantages above-mentioned, the Claudian has come to be 
preferred to all other kinds of paper, though the Augustan is 
still used for the purposes of epistolary correspondence. The 
Livian, which had nothing in common with that of first quality, 
but was entirely of a secondary rank, still holds its former 
place. 
CHAP. 25. THE PECULIAE DEFECTS IN PAPEll. 
The roughness and inequalities in paper are smoothed down 
with a tooth^^ or shell ; but the writing in such places is very 
apt to fade. "When it is thus polished the paper does not take 
the ink so readily, but is of a more lustrous and shining surface. 
The water of the 'Nile that has been originally employed in 
its manufacture, being sometimes used without due precaution, 
will unfit the paper for taking writing : this fault, however, 
may be detected by a blow with the mallet, or even by 
the smell, when the carelessness has been extreme. These ' 
23 Qy long glued" paper: tlie breadth probably consisted of* that of 
two or more sheets glued or pasted at the edges, the seam running down 
the roll. 
2* Scheda. One of the leaves of the papyrus, of which the roll of ' 
twenty, joined side by side, was formed. 
25 This passage is difficult to be understood, and various attempts have 
been made to explain it. It is not unlikely that his meaning is that the 
breadth being doubled, the tearing of one leaf or half breadth entailed of 
necessity the spoiling of another, making the corresponding half breadth. 
26 He perhaps means a portion of an elephant's tusk. 
Meaning a damp, musty smell. 
